Social Networks, Influence, and Media

I started this post as a comment to the prequel a few moments ago and thought it would make a good introduction to the topic of social networks, influence, and media.

Rushing nowhere

Much of the rapid pace we experience in social networks is artificial.

It's partly self-inflicted by watching others (apparently) do more, and partly encouraged by the platforms themselves because we are the product and need constant nudges to do things.

This kind of reminds me of what I heard people say about LA traffic: hurry up and wait.

Velocity as process

Gaining velocity from within goes through an entirely different process. Part editing out what doesn't matter, and part becoming aware of what does.

The way I define my work is clock speed: connection with meaning. It's different than memory. Memory is cheap; we have oodles of disk space and then some more in the cloud.

Disruptive technologies will help with making that connection to the last mile and give us back the ability to make better promises.

Remembering as discovery

Because they will move selectively into the realm of specifically what we want to remember. This is a different promise than current social networks.

I liken what's happening now to the early processors, which could do something dumb very fast: sorting "this is not".

The brain not only grows by use, it also has the reverse process: sorting "this is it".

Inferring connections based upon the tiniest of details. Why? Because it is embedded in a cultural context and narrative that accelerates the process of remembering.

Implications

The implications of this conversation on business are many.

They involve considerations on influence: why, what and how we're influenced that take us into yet unexplored dimensions and algorithms.

They also concern the idea and reality of "media" in ways we're barely scratching the surface.

My report on what I have seen and heard at WOMMA this past week in the Premium Newsletter will touch upon some of these emergent leading indicators.

I find the newsletter a much more intimate and appropriate medium for in depth analysis and feedback loops -- a higher level commitment has been made both by me and by the subscribers to treat the content as valuable.